Lawrence v. Stuyvesant Insurance

Headnote

Lawrence v. Stuyvesant Insurance Company, 163 App. Div. 936 , affirmed.

Appeal from a judgment of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the fourth judicial department, entered June 13, 1914, affirming a judgment in favor of plaintiff entered upon a verdict in an action upon a “ valued ” policy of fire insurance. The answer set up as an affirmative defense: First. That at the time the plaintiff herein applied for insurance, he stated and represented that the automobile mentioned and described in the policy of insurance and which is the subject of the insurance had been purchased by him for the sum of $1,750, and that its value was $1,750; that such statements were made by him for the purpose of inducing defendant to believe that the said automobile at the time the application for insurance was made was worth at lea'st $1,500; that defendant believed the statements and relied upon them and issued the policy in suit for $1,500; that such statements were false and were known.

by the plaintiff to be false at the time he made them, and were made for the purpose of deceiving and misleading defendant, and did deceive and mislead defendant. Second. That subsequently to the fire alleged in the complaint, the plaintiff delivered to defendant a paper purporting to be a proof of loss signed and sworn to by him, wherein he said that the automobile was purchased by him for $1,700 in January, 1910; that said statement was false, fraudulent and made by the plaintiff for the purpose of deceiving and misleading the defendant.